Who knows why, the title of this post makes me think of the song “He had just turned 18” by Dalida, when she just tells us that she put her hair in order, a little more black on his eyes... does that make you laugh? 😅 yes, it’s another part of my culture, a little too much in love with French lyrics. We will have time to talk about it again.
In short, all the reds are there in the photo, 5 shades:
Cinsault
Marselan “fresh”
Marselan “classic”
Cabernet Sauvignon “full fermentation” (grapes in barrels)
“Classic” Cabernet Sauvignon
What are the differences between these glasses? I see you coming, the 4 on the right are not identical. With time and cold, it will be even more obvious. Yes, wines also need time to reveal themselves... here they are a bit in the pre-adolescence phase.
For the moment therefore, apart from the grape variety, the difference comes from the duration and temperature of contact between the juice and the berries.
Food lover that I am, I would tell you that it's exactly like starting a dish with an onion in the pan (or like my father taught me to do). Low heat, high heat, caramelized, just sweaty… 🧅👨🍳
When to stop? It's free, everyone is right, the rest will be up to the tasters. And again… pleasing everyone is pleasing no one.
So we get started, we ferment part of it cold (even if the book theory doesn't recommend it ^^). Then, we extract the juice (from drops), sometimes before the end of fermentation. And we press the grapes separately to extract the last juices (from the presses), more loaded, more astringent but beneficial to the whole in the context of tasting the final wine.
Next will come the symphony of assemblages, I already have my own idea.
I will keep you posted..
Apart from that...🍾🥂 our Pet Nat' and his bubbles are a little bit late (the joys of administration) but we promise we'll talk about it in less than a month.